What to Expect at the High Holy Days

The High Holy Days at Washington Hebrew Congregation fill us with warmth and reverence, providing us with spiritual and meaningful moments that lift us into the new year. The sound of the season fills our worship spaces as the echoes of family laughter pour out onto Macomb Street and Falls Road At WHC, we encourage curated experiences so that the Yamim Noraim (Days of Awe) prepare us for a year of blessing and purpose.

In anticipation of the High Holy Days, we, your clergy, have been reviewing, practicing, and updating each service. As always, our goal is to craft worship that resonates with the period and allows you to connect spiritually and emotionally with the moving and vivid liturgy found in our machzor. We will once again offer services at both Temple in Northwest DC and at the Julia Bindeman Suburban Center (JBSC) in Potomac. At both locations, the worship experience will evoke awe, beauty, and contemplation, infused with warmth and joy.

At Temple, our cantor and rabbis will be accompanied by our dedicated and talented musical director, David Lang, on both organ and piano, along with our 12-voice Festival Choir. The services will also feature violin and percussion on Rosh HaShanah to help us express the joy associated with this holiday, and cello and violin on Yom Kippur to help us craft the contemplative mood of this holiday.

At JBSC, the Erev Rosh HaShanah Under the Stars and Rosh HaShanah morning services will be accompanied by our regular musicians who heighten our experience of prayer twice a month throughout the year (violin, guitar, bass, and percussion). The Kol Nidrei and Yom Kippur Morning services will be accompanied by a piano, violin, and cello trio. Rosh HaShanah Under the Stars will take place outside on the lovely JBSC grounds (weather permitting), while the rest of the services will be held in our indoor worship area.

As the Aseret Y’mei T’shuvah (Ten Days of Repentance) come to a close, we will all gather together in Kaufmann Sanctuary for the closing service. This service, which is technically three services in one, allows us to offer our final prayers for being sealed into the Book of Life. In this service, we will read in Leviticus 19 and the Book of Jonah of the power of t’shuvah (returning to a life centered around the mitzvot, using them to live our lives to the best of our abilities). We will also take a moment to Yizkor (remember our loved ones) and the lessons they taught us about how to live fully through the ethics and morals they shared. Finally, our service will close with the imagery of the sealing of the Book of Life and our final prayers of t’shuvah. 

Whichever location you attend — Temple, JBSC, via livestream, or a combination — the Yamim Noraim will be rich with tradition and evocative melodies, both traditional and contemporary, and will offer moments for you to lift your voice in prayer as you let the words of our tradition wash over you. Each service will also include beloved rituals from our weekly Shabbat services, e.g., sharing our simchas and joining together in communal conversation.

We look forward to sharing these High Holy Days with you, and we know that your experience will be heightened by being together with your fellow congregants, and by the spirituality and holiness these days elicit.